That was the Past, This is Now
by Jay Foren
Summary: "Oh my god, you belong in an asylum!" Radius Flame has lived her life with the crazy mark. She writes speeches about flying horses, jumps on desks, and drinks pop at school. But when all that changes will she have the courage to stop it?
1. Morning of the Day That Changed my Life

It was just a normal day. It was the day I learned I could do magic. I know that's not typically a _normal day._ But for me? Okay maybe not. But still, it's close. I'm the only person I know who's that their teacher had to yell out

"OH MY GOD YOU BELONG IN AN ASYLUM!" in the middle of history just because they were grinning and rubbing their hands together like a maniac. Or retard, whichever you chose to believe in. _That_ was one of my better years. I have a tendency to yell out such things as-

"Apple juice!" or

"Bob's staring at Rachael!" We don't have a Bob in our class. Or a Rachael to be honest. Never did. Of course, I get straight A's. Sadly people don't care when they're dealing with a crazy lady. They just think I'm _really good at guessing. _I've been in counselling since I was six for believing in magic.

I only have one friend. Never found a reason to have another. Her names Sadie Harvest, but her nickname's Relaly Annoya. Bet her five bucks and it's guaranteed by the end of the day she'll have annoyed the crap out of you. She has this twang that she puts on the end of her words that makes everything sound like it ends with an a. Our desks, our lockers and anything else had to be directly beside each other or we'd crack. Why would cracking crazy and annoying be a problem? Mrs. Jamelson. My favourite teacher ever. Every day for an hour-and whatever extra time she can get-she takes us to her office to play board games. She also lets us pick the subject to ditch. She has a secret stash of chocolate and pop in her closet that she gives us. Our division passed a rule that none of that's allowed at school. She could get fired if they found out. She knows we don't really need counselling and has convinced all the teachers to do as we say.

I love books. Sadly, I'm not allowed much literature. Like I said I believe in magic. Where does someone get those habits? Too much reading.

"Hey!" Relaly yelled. Half the kids in class cringed. Mrs. Jamelson, her parents and I are the only ones that can stand her twang. There's this short kid in the other class, Relaly speaks, she'll start to cry.

That's another thing about me. I'm super tall. I'm 5.9 feet and I'm only thirteen. My sport? Basketball. Its fun seeing all those preppy little girls who think their better than me, well to put it simply, lose. Their just all _I can beat you!_ Than they grab the ball and run to the basket. Then it hits the backboard and bounces on their heads knocking them out. They always forget about the travelling shortly after they've won. (Not)

I responded to Relaly by jumping on the table and screaming

"Woohooooh!" I figured I'd make up an excuse later like

"There were blue and yellow horseys flying through the air. I had to catch one and add it to my collection." I know I'm not actually crazy, but everyone else thinks I am. It makes a good excuse for doing bad things.

"That's my girl!" Relaly laughed making more kids cringe.

"Wait till ya hear my speech." She yelled to the whole class. I had forgotten speeches were that day! Five whole minutes of people listening to Relaly speaking. That would be hilarious.

My speech? I wrote it on flying horses. What colour and size they were, how high they flew, and why I was obsessed with them. People called me crazy for writing that speech. I just threw them my favourite quote, it's better to be crazy; you have more fun that way. Who spoke it? Me. Before I wrote that speech I never knew how someone could talk for so long about my craziness. Now I know the answer. Sadly, I never got to perform it, or even hear Relaly's.

A boy from my class named Tim Carper ran to go throw his head in the toilet. He ran into the girl's washroom...

Shortly after the teacher came and announced we would be doing speeches after lunch and that for now we would be playing a game. Me and Relaly squealed and asked if we could pick it. The teacher looked at us angrily and opened her mouth to say no.

"What's this I hear about a game? Why don't you let everyone's favourite duo pick it? That would be great for them!" Mrs. Jamelson cooed. Everyone groaned. It wasn't hard to figure out _everyone's favourite duo _was _us_. Me and Relaly mumbled a bit and came to a decision we already knew.

"We want to play team silent ball!" For those who haven't played it, you sit on a desk and throw a ball around. If you don't catch it, or don't throw it properly, you're out. You also can't speak to call someone. With teams it's the same, but with teams. We had a small class of only ten kids, so five kids went on each team. It was me and Relaly with a bunch (3) of kids that don't matter. Just as I expected. On the other team was my arch enemy, Melonie Green. She's made fun of me for everything. My wirery thin wavy black hair, my blazing blue eyes. She wears skimpy tops and shorts that are way too small for her.

She than waves them in my face and laughs saying their extra small. I'm only a medium. I'm fit and muscular and I and Relaly can outrun any kid in the school. We, as mentioned, play a mean game of basketball, and volleyball isn't all that hard.

I enjoyed beating her at that game.

It was down to me, Relaly and Melonie. Melonie, obviously mad her team was losing, wrote something own on a sticky note and attached it to the ball. It was supposed to hit me but her aim was off and it smacked Relaly in the nose causing her to fall onto the floor. I was pretty sure I was the only one who saw the blood squirting from her nose.

I was also pretty sure I was also the only one who saw it miraculously heal.

I shook it off. I mean, I'm supposed to be medically crazy. Maybe that was the first sign I was losing my mind? I looked at the note Melonie left on the ball.

_Go to a god's realm._

I smiled grabbed a pen and replied.

_-Thanks! Olympus would love me! Cause I awesome like that. But if you're speaking about Hades, he probably wouldn't accept me. I'm too much like Aphrodite. Too bad!_

_-The goddess of awesomeness_

She was just sitting their smirking. She probably thought _come on get angry and get yourself out! _

"Not today sissy_"_ I thought and whipped the ball at her. It hit her stomach and and bounced to the floor.

She bent down to check what I had written.

"Well then, better get your resume ready." She sneered. She turned and shook her booty to the corner of the room. Kids moved and started to _congratulate_ her.

"Wait!" I shouted. "I won, why is everyone congratulating her?"

"No Melonie won. She caught it then threw it back. It hit your stomach and bounced to the ground." The teacher explained as the kids laughed at the word stomach. I ignored them. I furrowed my brow but didn't say anything else to the teacher. What I did say was to Relaly.

"I won, you saw. Right Relaly?" I said as I walked up to her. It isn't hard since we sit directly beside each other.

"You did."

"I don't know if that's a statement or a question."

"You won, I saw." Her twang was gone. Needless to say I left her alone.

That was the second weird thing.

For the rest of the class there was a picture of a black haired girl in my mind. I swore I could hear Melonie's voice in my mind. _Life is full of disappointments . . . _


	2. I Meet the Girl from my Head

**I just realized something, this story has about a 50% chance of being finished, and it's rapidly depleting. If you want me to continue it's simple. REVEIW! At first I had this chapter at exactly 1,000 words. So I typed more so it wasn't weird or anything.**

**One more thing. Expect the chapters to take forever.**

**Seeing how I'm not in a fun mood today I'm going to give you a very boring disclaimer. **

**I do not own Skulduggery Pleasant.**

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><p>After lunch didn't go much better seeing how if I hadn't run away with Relaly, I probably would have been falsely expelled. When I and Relaly entered the classroom after a delicious meal of grilled cheese at my house, everyone was in their desks quietly whispering, while Melonie gave her speech. No, not the speech that enters her in the competition, the speech she gives about her speech. Why she chose her topic, why she should win, why she should win because she wrote two speeches, what she did to practice, why she will win, and what she will do with the prize money.<p>

Apparently we came in on the last paragraph because when we walked in we heard

"I will get a mani-pedi and get new highlights in my hair. I will go shoe shopping and get a pair of three inch heels I've had my eyes on for two months. Also I will go see the new Twilight film with my two best friends." About five or six people called out their thanks. "They will of course have to pay their own way in. So if you want a worthy ruler to be your queen, vote for me." Her official speech ended there but everyone else heard her say "And not that loser." I was, in some ways, her only competition.

"Thanks Mel." I called out as Relaly pointed out the obvious.

"She's already rich! She doesn't need the money!" Just then the teacher walked in. She gave some speech about how important speeches are and why we would use them in the future. She explained the requirements and when she got to the part about using a clear voice, she looked at Relaly and shook her head.

"Now who would like to do heir speech first?" Relaly, Melonie, and I all put up our hands. "Melonie you may go first." She stood up and walked to the front and began her speech, which not surprisingly was on the history of manicures and pedicures. When she finished I clapped in joy. Her speech was horrible!

"Sadie, you may go next." The teacher for some reason refused to call her Relaly.

Relaly stood up and walked to the front of the class. Standing right by the desk she opened her mouth to begin her speech, which was about the old west, when the desk burst into flames and she was thrown to the ground. In the chaos I saw five things. One was the flames had scorched away the side of Relaly's shirt and horrible burns ran down her side. Two, they miraculously healed. Three, Melonie encased in a green light smiling and laughing though no sound was heard. Four, the whole class had gone pitch black and the only sources of light in the room were the fire and the green light around Melonie. Five, the girl in my head was now in the flames. Very slim, dark eyes and very dark long hair.

I looked at the ground. _Great. _I thought _I am now officially crazy. For real this time._ I remember when I was younger, about seven, and they took me to the doctor to check if it was true, if I was really crazy.

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><p><em>"Sweetie, you need to be quiet now. The doctor is going to help you, teach you how to be normal." My mother was trying to be nice but she was crying herself. My dad, now dead, hadn't said a word since we left the house.<em>

_"But normal, it scares me!" I squeaked "I want to be different!" Then the doctor came in and I must of jinxed it._

_"Ashley Andrews has been diagnosed with craziness. I am so sorry." Which I highly doubt, because know he gets paid to do therapy with me every week. But I felt sad. There was a sudden sadness in the room, my mother was sobbing into my dad's shoulder, my dad was looking straight ahead, and my seventeen year old sister I hardly ever see? Well she was still playing on her ipod. I always wondered in the past, what is with my sister? She was never home, never went to college in the end, and when she is around, she has no emotion. So we went home and I went to my room. I was now crazy._

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><p><em>But now it was for real.<em>

Then they started coming. Through the windows they came crawling though normally elegant. One came forward swiftly. His giant fangs shining in the firelight. Someone, one of the girls, yelled something about twilight coming to life.

"I am Dusk. We search for Valkyrie Cain." I noticed Melonie and Relaly run from the room and decided to follow them. When I caught up they were arguing.

"We don't need them! Just let me call my father and he can get the sanctuary here. Or better yet. You call Cain and we forfeit the stupid girl!"

"Skulduggery and Valkyrie will always be there for me and you speak that way about her? Are you forgetting that she saved your life just last month?"

"I didn't need her help! She got there before I could do anything."

"And besides Melonia, what can the sanctuary do that they can't?"

"One day, when I am Grand Mage, you will die Relaly. You and your friends will all die!" Melonie started typing rapidly on her phone as did Relaly.

"Hey Skul. What do you do when a bunch of vampires attack your seventh grade class threatening that if you don't give them Valkyrie Cain they'll kill everyone? Melonia won't listen to me; she's calling her dad and threatening to kill me. She wants to forfeit Val. Okay I'll see you then."

Melonie's conversation went much differently.

"Hey dad. Can you get Cain? We need to forfeit her so that a group of Vampires don't kill every one in the school. Okay thanks dad. Maybe send in a few mages too? And a doctor encase they infect? Bye."

"They're coming" They both said at once.

"Hey Mel, was that you when the lights went out?"

"No, you?

"Why do you think I'm asking?"

"I thought maybe you were trying to be sarcastica."

"Okay now that is sarcasm." I decided it was now or never.

"I think it was me." I said as I stepped out of the shadows that shouldn't have been there. They vanished when I stepped out.

"You're magical?" Both Relaly and Melonie asked uncertainly.

"I don't know. Those things in class, are they real vampires?"

'Yep."

"Like out of Twilight." Melonie laughed trying-and failing-to be funny.

"Oh." I said "They must not be very dangerous then. I wonder if they'll fall in love with me?" Relaly and I laughed.

"Trust me' and unknown voice said. "You do not want one of those things stalking you."

"Yes" Another voice chuckled, "Sadly they are much more dangerous then the movie" I turned around to face the fact that the girl from my head had leaped from the flames and was accompanied by a skeleton.

"This is Valkyrie Cain and Skulduggery Pleasant." I heard Relaly say. I wasn't really listening. I was more paying attention to the word pumping in my head as I fainted. _Darquesse, Darquesse, Darquesse._

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><p><strong>So now I add a magical sister and a dead father. Hmm, not really sure how to tie this in. Might just leave those threads alone.<strong>

**I swear I will finish the day in the next chapter. At least I will try. Trying counts for everything.**

**-Radius Flame **


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